"Now, Lana!" Those eyes of black pearls held some kind of promise, even though his voice was plain command. And there was no time hesitation. For either of us.. I let go and ran up the stairs.. What else was there to be done? If I stayed downstairs with him, the witches could've hurt someone else.. Amelia and Calliope needed my help more than Christian did. With Adam being still somewhat weakened, I trusted that he could put him down. He had pure le Boursier blood flowing through his veins.. And the royals weren't legendary for nothing. So I left, up the stairs, hearing him rushing away as well.. My steps against the wooden stairs were heavy as I could barely feel my own legs from still the image of Alexander's death flashing before me.. No matter the odds, he deserved better than a ripped heart. With somewhat managing the stairs, with the wood still cracking underneath my feet, I rushed somewhere, wherever it was I was going, trying to hear some voices, some signals.. I stopped, not even aware that I had.. Glancing out the window.. And having my heart stop for a second, dead in my chest.. It was dark but in that darkness stood women, hundreds of them, around the house.. One next to another.. Witches. The image was— Hell, it was the same as it was that night.. I almost gasped for air.. When my father lost his life trying to end them. And it's not real, I repeated to myself. Not then, not now. They were just an illusion. But they were facing the same amount of men.. No, they were almost rounded with both the number of them. My people.. They came. They followed the plan and came. And the witches were an illusion, but their magic was real.. The only real witch I saw was Calliope. She was down there as well.. I knew.. They could put my people down within minutes if we didn't— The three witches. It was them we had to kill. Right in that moment. With that, every single illusion of a witch outside the house, ghost or whatever they fucking were.. They would simply vanish in thin air. Disappear. It was that moment I realized I hadn't thought everything through because at that point, I didn't know where to even start looking for a damned witch.. And how would I know whether she was real or not? But once reaching the somewhat old study, I saw the familiar brown hair, wavy and long, as she stood in a position that I barely knew how to handle.. "Amelia," I gasped, watching how she looked back at me, still holding her arm reached out, towards the witch that also had her hand directed to Amelia, holding her side of the spell.. Amelia was a cliona, there must had been some benefit from it.. Before I could really think it all out, I was reaching in my left pocket, taking out the tiny bottle that Calliope claimed would work.. The witch yelled out a spell in a language I didn't quite understand and I was knocked off my feet, falling back with force that had Amelia say something, shouted something too, threaten something perhaps.. I didn't quite hear.. "Lana, now!" It was when I heard that that I threw the little bottle towards he witch and covered my eyes.. The glass broke.. Thalia's growl of plain pain had me look back, just to see Amelia taking a few careful steps back.. The simple thought of that witch being responsible for my father's death, had me snap back to reality so quickly, I lost balance the second I found my way back to my feet.. But there wasn't a force strong enough to stop me at that point. I rushed towards her, towards the witch that still held an arm over her eyes as the potion had harmed her sight, at least temporarily.. Before I could register my own moves, I felt her bony shoulders under my hands as I pushed her back until she was yanked against the old wall behind her.. Fury ruled me, rage controlling every little move of mine to the point of me completely losing my senses.. And with a simple reach in my boot, I had the knife in my hand.. It was almost as if there was someone else mastering my body while I looked from the side.. Observing myself how I brought the knife to her throat and ran the sharp edge until she fell dead on the floor.. One group of witches, down. I did it.. I killed her so quickly that not even I was aware of it.. Hell, I was barely aware of the dark red covering my hands.. She was dead and I— I didn't even see the her face that well.. I didn't see the fear in her eyes when I put the knife at her throat from how quickly I had done it.. I almost felt regret because I truly wished she saw who it was that ended her.. Which was bizarre and brutal and such desire for revenge.. It didn't make me any better than Adam. But it was my father they killed.. Him I was revenging. And damn me, but I hoped my face would be the last thing they all saw before I killed them.. And yet I did it before she could even put her arm away from her eyes.. A shriek from behind me was heard and I couldn't even seem to focus on it for even a second.. Or my brain was simply not able to register everything so quickly.. I was— Hell, I was shocked from my own speed, from my own capabilities when anger dominated me the way it did at that point.. I turned around slowly, and stopped frozen on my spot when I saw the scene behind me. Camille, one of the witches.. She had Amelia. Arm around her neck from behind, holding her still after probably witnessing the death of her sister, Thalia. My heart skipped a shallow beat.. It seemed like every second of my life flashed before me.. "Sister for sister," Amelia wasn't even struggling, and when I wanted to rush over there and free her, the witch simply reached out her arm and mumbled words that were once again, not understandable for me..